Problem Child

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Problem Child

PG

1990

1h 21m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

3%

Tomatometer

31 Reviews

43%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Ben is a good-hearted guy who's always wanted a son of his own, but so far he and his wife have had no success. The couple adopt Junior, a redheaded hellion who quickly makes their lives miserable. Disaster follows Junior wherever he goes, from camping trips that require emergency-room visits to birthday parties that turn into Grand Guignol affairs. When Ben's incensed family tells him to get rid of the boy, he starts to wonder if they might be right.

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Critics Consensus

Mean-spirited and hopelessly short on comic invention, Problem Child is a particularly unpleasant comedy, one that's loaded with manic scenery chewing and juvenile pranks.

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Michael Wilmington

Los Angeles Times

07/14/2014

Sound funny? The filmmakers here think so. They've jacked this loud, lame shrieker of a movie up to the highest decibels, both aural and visual, and rammed it in our faces with almost numbing aplomb.

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Carrie Rickey

Philadelphia Inquirer

05/21/2013

2/4

Some kids are born bad. Others achieve badness. And some have badness thrust upon them. The same can be said of movies.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Tribune

05/21/2013

2/4

Inside Dennis Dugan's uncertainly staged, awkwardly sentimental Problem Child is another movie fighting to get out-one that's much meaner and probably more interesting.

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Jack E. Wilkinson

United Press International

Jun 12

Hopeful but soon hopeless Sledgehammer comedy that can be quite funny.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

11/30/2022

Problem Child takes the theme of the mischievous child to an alarming, and sociopathic limit. [Full review in Spanish]

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Joaquin de Luna

El Pais (Spain)

03/27/2019

Terrible. [Full review in Spanish]

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Artur G

@RT11672082 Jul 5

As a child I choked myself laughing on this movie. After I became a boy dad I rewatched The Problem Child with my wife. We were crying. It's not a comedy. It's actually a personal tragedy of an extremely underloved boy who was always punished for being a boy and for daring do defend himself from harmful adults and bully kids. And in the case he always succeeded in it he was called a problem neither adults nor bullies.

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Jonathan T

@Jontown677 Jun 18

It’s a very 90s movie but it’s super hilarious idk why people hate it

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Glenn

@Grappler Oct 19

The boy threw the cat in the grandfather's face after he heard him say some bad things about him. The grandfather fell down the stairs backwards. LOL, you have to watch the movie. It's funny because bad things happen to someone else. If this happened to you in real life I could see why you wouldn't think it wasn't so funny

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Jane L

@Dreameater2018 Aug 9

Watched this one as a child. Super funny! They don’t make them like they did back then because of our soft pc culture.

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Ace C

@RT14407734 06/25/2025

Idk why everyone hate the movie😭 I loved it and watched it throughout my childhood

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Stephen C

@bob25009 05/29/2025

The worldwide gross is $72,270,891.00 over a production budget of $11,000,000.00. Difference of $61,270,891.00. Starring the late John Ritter (September 17th, 1948, in Burbank, California- September 11th, 2003, also in Burbank, California, at the age of 54 years, 11 months, and 25 days), Michael Joshua Oliverius (Born October 10th, 1981, in Los Angeles, California, celebrating his 45th birthday, in just 82 days) and the late John Warden Lebzelter Jr. (September 18th, 1920, in Newark, New Jersey- July 19th, 2006, in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 85 years, 10 months, and 1 day). And Michael Anthony Richards (Born July 24th, 1949, in Culver City, California, celebrating his 79th birthday in just 4 days).

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Synopsis

Ben is a good-hearted guy who's always wanted a son of his own, but so far he and his wife have had no success. The couple adopt Junior, a redheaded hellion who quickly makes their lives miserable. Disaster follows Junior wherever he goes, from camping trips that require emergency-room visits to birthday parties that turn into Grand Guignol affairs. When Ben's incensed family tells him to get rid of the boy, he starts to wonder if they might be right.

Director: Dennis Dugan
Producer: Robert Simonds
Screenwriter: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 11, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $53.5M
Runtime: 1h 21m
Sound Mix: Surround